DAP today urged the Parliament, which will see its first sitting next month, to investigate former finance minister Daim Zainuddin for allegedly making false statements to justify the governments buyback of Malaysia Airlines (MAS).

In a press statement, party national chairperson Lim Kit Siang said Daim must substantiate claims made in Parliament last year the buyback of MAS shares at RM8 per share from former MAS executive chairperson and key shareholder Tajudin Ramli was at the best price possible in national interest.

The closing market price for the MAS shares at the time of purchase was RM3.68 per share.

During the March 21 debate on the issue last year, Daim told Parliament that according to several international investment institutions, the share value of MAS will be more than RM9 with effective management and support from the government.

Without producing supporting evidence, he (Daim) popped up the figure of RM15 for the first time and gave the impression that Tajudin was quite reasonable in wanting to release his MAS stake to the government at not less than RM15 and that there was foreign investor interest in MAS at this price.

This was outrageous as Tajudin had told a foreign news agency, when the deal was concluded, that he was lucky in getting a good price at RM8 per share enabling him to settle the RM927.4million debt of Naluri Bhd, said Lim

Naluri is a Malaysian listed company of which Tajudin is the largest shareholder

Documentary evidence

The veteran politician said the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges should ask for documentary evidence to determine if there was a foreign investor interested in the MAS stake at RM15 per share or even RM8.

If this cannot be established, Lim said:Daim would be guilty of gross breach of privilege in misleading MPs with baseless information and untruths.

Lim also questioned Daims failure to call for an independent professional valuation of the company before approving government engagement in the deal.

MAS landed in the spotlight again recently, when a senior executive in the company lodged a police report on Jan 9 on alleged management irregularities in Maskargo operations at Hahn airport in Germany.

The irregularities centred on a two-year contract awarded to Advanced Cargo Logistic GmbH, a Germany-based cargo handler 60 percent owned by Naluri, which is costing the MAS a monthly loss of RM11 million.

MAS is expected to continue to suffer losses for the another eight months before the contract expires in October this year.

Meanwhile, it was reported today that police will be investigating the owners of the Germany-based company and if there was any vested interest by any former top executives of MAS.